Posted on 11/23/2006 9:21:01 AM PST by pabianice
(This article is instructive as to the depth and breadth of anti-gun hysteria resident in Deep Blue Massachusetts.)
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Auburn incident was accidental
AUBURN, MA — A 12-year-old Auburn Middle School student has admitted to police he accidentally dropped two .22-caliber bullets from his pocket Tuesday morning prompting a search and two-hour precautionary lockdown of the Swanson Road school.
Police Chief Andrew J. Sluckis Jr. said the student, who went to the police station with his father and talked to Detective James Lyman Tuesday night, will be summoned to Worcester Juvenile Court to face two charges of possession of ammunition without a firearm identification card.
“The student and his father contacted the Auburn Police Department Detective Bureau, and the student admitted and took responsibility for bringing the .22-caliber bullets into the school,” Chief Sluckis said yesterday morning.
Chief Sluckis said the student got the bullets from his father, who has an FID card. Chief Sluckis did not know the circumstances by which the bullets were brought to school.
Chief Sluckis said the youth, who is not being identified because of his age, told police he didn’t realize he had the bullets with him and they accidentally fell out of his pocket. One bullet was found in a first-floor boy’s restroom and the second round was found in a hallway leading up to the second floor.
Both rounds were found by students and turned over to their teachers, who contacted Principal Ann O’Leary Ortiz, who called police, Superintendent Helene Skrzyniarz said yesterday.
The discovery of the bullets that can be used in either a handgun or rifle led to a search of approximately 600 students and their lockers, as well as the two-hour lockdown in which students remained in their homerooms.
“One positive thing that came out of this was that no contraband was found in any of the lockers,” said Chief Sluckis, who defined contraband as weapons or drugs.
Ms. Skrzyniarz said she was “absolutely” pleased that no contraband was found in the student lockers.
Chief Sluckis, who met yesterday morning with Ms. Skrzyniarz and Mrs. Ortiz, said a person convicted of possessing ammunition without an FID card could face a year in prison and a $500 fine.
“Since he has no criminal record, I would not expect the court to be too heavy-handed,” Chief Sluckis said.
Mrs. Ortiz described the student as being “a nice kid and not anything close to being a problem in school,” Chief Sluckis said.
Nevertheless, he said the student could be facing some discipline from the School Department and Ms. Skrzyniarz said that likely would happen.
“I’m sure there will be consequences at the school level as well,” she said.
The student was not at school yesterday, Chief Sluckis said.
“His father made the decision to keep him out of school,” the chief said.
After the search was completed, students went to lunch and finished the rest of their school day as well as after-school activities, Ms. Skrzyniarz said. Mrs. Ortiz and Assistant Principal John Giodano talked with students at their tables during lunch to explain what had occurred, she added. Mrs. Ortiz also sent letters to the students’ parents and guardians detailing the situation, the superintendent said.
Ms. Skrzyniarz, who returned telephone calls yesterday to four parents who left messages for her on Tuesday, said she went to the school yesterday to see how the students were doing.
“I wanted to see how they were weathering the incident,” she said.
Students were dismissed early yesterday for the Thanksgiving Day holiday.
Ms. Skrzyniarz said she finished a meeting she was in and arrived at the school about 10 minutes after hearing what had happened. She said by the time she arrived about 10 to 12 “state and mostly local” police officers had arrived.
“It was busy at the school,” she said. “It was extremely quiet, extremely controlled,” she said.
Both Chief Sluckis and Ms. Skrzyniarz said the search and lockdown that was heavily covered by Boston television and radio stations, was justified.
“If we didn’t take any action we would have been negligent,” Chief Sluckis said.
Not to be vague, I just forget the details of various guns around here.
It was the one we had a thread about a few years ago, where we were discussing the advantages of spending more money on glass, vs. more money on the rifle. I compromised - I got the rifle used but in really good condition, and bought him a leopold for it.
Anyway, he uses it to plink on our place, and for family competitions only, for now.
Ruger All-Weather 77/22 in .22 LR, Chrome barrel, bolt action, heavy as heck. Turns out I had it here.
Ooops, stainless.
Thank you for the reply. I don't mean to be nosey but it peaked my interest. This is especially when someone mentions competitions. I used to get this great flyer from the NRA spelling out all the competitions around the country. I think it was called Shooting Sports USA. I listed every NRA competition in the country with contact numbers.
I would very much like to get back into .22 silhouette rifle one of these days. It's the hardest competition I ever experienced.
They gave us ten rounds for practice, and one of the locals lent my one of those $6000 dollar .22's to use.
I shot nine bulls eyes, and a nine. It was great! Everybody in the joint was buying me beer.
(Needless to say, I didn't compete. LOL)
Geez - I thought you just crimped the bases with your side teeth...
OCD
On the bright side this shows us just how easy it is to throw a bunch nanny state libs into a complete panic. Think about it. All you need to do is leave a few .22 cartridges here and there. Cheap thrills!
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